Oil prices continue to climb amid weaker US dollar

NEW YORK—Oil prices continued to rally Thursday as the US dollar depreciated against other currencies, making the dollar-priced crude less expensive and more attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

The BOJ on Thursday decided to keep its current monetary policy despite market expectations of additional easing, while again putting off the target date of achieving its two percent inflation goal. The US dollar plunged about three percent against the Japanese yen following the news.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.67 percent to 93.759 in late trading.

Meanwhile, US crude output decreased for the seventh week to its lowest level since October 2014, according to a report released by the Energy Information Administration Wednesday.

On the US economic front, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016, worse than traders’ estimates, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Commerce Department Thursday.

The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery added 70 cents to settle at USD 46.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery increased 96 cents to close at USD 48.14 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.